The life and career of American composer Elie Siegmeister (1909-1991) spanned most of the Twentieth century. His music provides a unique voice in classical music of the United States. With an acute awareness of social issues, Siegmeister desired for his music to communicate with audiences. His love of American folk music, blues, and jazz contributed to his distinct compositional style, first overtly with lyrical folksong-like melodies in the 1940s before becoming sublimated into a dissonant idiom by the 1960s. This thesis provides a survey of the change in Elie Siegmeister’s compositional style, specifically the years between 1940 and 1970. I provide an overview of Siegmeister’s entire compositional career in Chapter One. Chapter Two finds Siegmeister’s involvement with folk music coalescing into a lyrical and tonal style during the 1940s. With Chapter Three, I reveal pivotal events that urged Siegmeister to concentrate on form and thematic development during the 1950s. In Chapter Four I look at the 1960s as a synthesis of his past compositional styles.

This thesis considers the musical response of the American composer, Miriam Gideon to political events during the McCarthy era. It examines the interrelationships between politics, society and culture and considers how these are reflected in two works, Epitaphs from Robert Burns (1952) and Altered Steps to Altered States (1953) that Gideon composed during this period. Specifically, this thesis focuses on Gideon’s transition from teaching and composing music within an academic setting to preparing for life in a musical world, without support from mainstream academic institutions. Following the Introduction, Chapter 2 documents the rise of anti-communist practices on campus at Brooklyn College and City College, New York City where Miriam Gideon held music teaching posts. It reconstructs the personal events that led to the loss of both of these appointments and examines how and why this occurred. It is argued that Gideon entered a period of ‘inner exile,’ and this concept and its consequences for Gideon are explored in Chapter 3. An examination of her private diaries demonstrates that the effects of the McCarthy era were not only physical, but also psychological and social. Chapters 4-6 consider Gideon’s music through the perspective of inner exile and aim to show that the music that she wrote was a reflection of her experiences. Gideon’s return to academia in 1955 and her rehabilitation back into the academy are discussed in Chapter 7. A complete list of Gideon’s compositional output is included and is organised chronologically, alphabetically and by genre. This thesis examines new documents not previously available to scholars, and includes interviews conducted by the author with Gideon’s former students and colleagues.

Juche philosophy, the reigning ideology of North Korea, has governed the country for over half a century. All realms, including politics, economy, society and culture, in North Korea are ruled by Juche philosophy. North Korean music has also been strongly influenced by the philosophy. It is regarded as a perfect tool to indoctrinate the philosophy to the public. This study aims to interrogate how North Korean music has been transformed under Juche philosophy and the perception of the North Korean governors about music, by examining the political platforms and rules set by the North Korean government for musicians and music associations and the specific features in the music that can be identified as being influenced by the Juche philosophy. Although the dissertation restates much of the existing research on the topic, it is one of the first academic works that provides with the detailed analysis on North Korean music (specifically the Moranbong band) of the current Kim regime. The Revolutionary Opera Sea of Blood and the Moranbong band embody Juche philosophy. Sea of Blood is one of the most representative musical pieces created during the Il-Sung Kim and Jung-Il Kim regimes. The opera contains an anti-Japanese plot and emphasises the autonomous (Juche) spirit and socialism. The Moranbong band has played the role of spokesman for the Jung-Eun Kim regime. All the reaction of the North Korean government against internal and external political issues is shown in concerts of the band. It is no exaggeration to say that all the arias and songs performed in the opera and the band concerts contain political messages. In this dissertation, the musical structure and characteristics of the opera and the band are thoroughly analysed to illustrate the relationship between North Korean music and Juche philosophy. / Dissertation (MMus)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Music / MMus / Unrestricted

In 1988, rap group Public Enemy's front man Chuck D declared that hip-hop was the "black CNN." His assertion was that hip-hop music could be used as a tool to disseminate information amongst communities that traditionally have been underserved by mainstream media outlets. In the years since, several explicitly political and activist groups have formed within hip-hop communities. Most hip-hop audience members are not, however, directly involved in such groups. My dissertation investigates the links between hip-hop music and culture and politics in the lives of audience members, exploring audience member's definitions of politics and community and examining the influence of hip-hop on these definitions. This is an ethnographic project that includes participant observation as well as in-depth interviews with self-identified hip-hop fans. Participant observation took place at two National Hip-Hop Political Convention conferences, in Austin at concerts, panel discussions, and other hip-hop oriented events, and online in an email listserv devoted to hip-hop and politics. Interviews address listening and other practices that serve to connect individual members to hip-hop communities. In addition, I asked participants to explore their definitions of "politics" and to comment on connections between music and politics from their individual perspectives. Finally, participants were asked to list issues of particular concern to them. This is an interdisciplinary project that combines aspects of sociology, cultural studies, and popular music studies. I also rely upon Patricia Hill Collins' concept of intersectionality, assuming that race, class, and gender each work together to contribute to audience members' experience with hip-hop music and culture and their sense of belonging to the hip-hop community. This project contributes to understandings of music reception as well as to understanding political affiliation and practice by exploring and describing the ways in which people register and experience music and politics in the hip-hop generation. / text

This dissertation presents a historical study of intersections between music and activism in Poland from the election of Cardinal Karol Wojtyła as Pope John Paul II in 1978 to Poland’s first democratic elections in 1989. Musical action in three cultural spheres shapes the project: (1) the political activism of musicians, (2) activists who turn to music as a political instrument, and (3) the musical ambitions of the communist authorities, the Polish United Workers’ Party. I critique the repercussions of politics in music as well as music’s significance for policy makers and dissidents, and I assume that neither course of influence is intrinsic or inevitable under state socialism. In doing so, I highlight the complex relationship between activist culture and music at the end of the Cold War. Throughout the decade, religious hymns, patriotic anthems, experimental music, and popular songs shared spaces in Polish society, projected analogous ambitions, reflected communal responses, and partook in debates about culture’s capacity to effect political action. The plurality of musical genres and music histories during the Cold War reflects the political tensions in the Polish opposition to state socialism. The diverse materials I investigate in this dissertation respond both to the tumultuous politics of the 1980s and to the ethnographic, historical, and analytical methods I employ to write music history. My thesis—that political activism offered politicians, activists, and musicians the opportunity for constructive creative action—provides a model for rethinking Cold War music history. I begin with an explanation of the Communist Party’s program for music and the practical means by which it carried out this vision through the decade. Two chapters examine specific historical moments: I critique the ways in which music has come to be associated with the August 1980 strikes that brought about the formation of Solidarity, the first independent trade union in the Eastern bloc, and map the sites of music making in the weeks after martial law’s imposition in December 1981. I explore the resonance of popular sacred hymns and plainchant for musicologists, composers, and members of the opposition through the final decade of the Cold War. The dissertation concludes by analyzing the unofficial musical discourse on independence, drawing out the concept’s resonance for artists invested in their own musical autonomy. / Music

1 Abstract The thesis emphasizes music and politics, discussing how musicians and their music become a factor in political discourse. As a powerful media, music can be involved in politics and used by politics. The thesis has categorized several ways of musicians and their music become a factor in the politics and also has listed special examples. According to dimensions of human interests, politics of power, politics of money and politics of behavior can be the three main intentions of music getting involved in politics. Musicians and politicians though have many intentions to let the music get connected to politics, the thesis finally reaches the conclusion that they are all for the result of the collective action of the people to achieve higher mutual interests. Keywords Music, Politics, Political Communication, Collective Action, Human Interest

In Spain, the era of political transition to democracy known as La Transición during the 1970s and 1980s led to changes in Spanish popular music (i.e., pop, rock, punk) which became the musical representation of the new democracy’s social and political changes. Two different musical movements of that period, La Movida Madrileña and Rock Radical Vasco, established boundaries between official mainstream music and its musical counterculture counterpart, underground, and subversive musical practices within Spanish democracy. This thesis examines the nature of those musical practices, their song lyrics, and their social and political interpretations, including their influence on current musical practices.

This thesis spotlights eleven formative moments or ‘events' in the history of twentieth-century art music in Greece. They date from 1908 to 1979 and are ordered by two master narratives, the ‘Great Idea' and the ‘European Idea', concepts with multifarious implications for the making of contemporary Greece. The nature of the musical works presented during these events, the particular kind of reception they received, the debates they generated, and the role their composers hoped they would play in the construction of a contemporary Greek musical identity are some of the indicative issues that will be discussed, and always in relation to the prevailing political and social context. More specifically, I will try to show by way of these events how politics and culture were inextricably tied together. In some cases the events directly mirrored the political divisions and social tensions of their time, while in others they formed an easy (‘innocent') prey to political agendas – indigenous and foreign – that were at some remove from matters aesthetic. The discussion of these historical moments in the concert life of Greece is partly based on secondary sources, but it is also supported by extensive archival research. It is hoped that both the general approach and the new findings will enrich and update the existing literature in English, and that they may even serve to stimulate further research in the music history of other countries located in the so-called margins of Europe.

North Korea, throughout its history, has had four representative pop music bands that frequently appear on broadcast media to propagate Juche philosophy and represent the political stance of the government: the Bochonbo electronic band, the Wangjaesan light music band, the Moranbong band, and the Chongbong band. The first two were formed during the Il-Sung-Kim regime and gained popularity during the Jung-Il-Kim regime; and the latter two are representative of the Jung-Eun-Kim regime. These bands always appeared at special occasions of North Korea and are used as mouthpieces for the government and the supreme leaders. This study explores the characteristics of North Korean pop music in conjunction with political implications by examining performances of these representative four bands. The aims are to interrogate how pop music in that country has been presented under governmental control, to ascertain what perception the North Korean governors have about pop music, and to delineate specific features in the music that can be identified as political. Certain aspects of the current Jung-Eun-Kim regime and its pop music are appearing for the first time in an academic context and existing research on the earlier regimes of Il-Sung Kim and Jung-Il Kim are posited in relation to this. The genesis of the Wangjaesan light music band and the Bochonbo electronic music band is closely connected to Jung-Il Kim’s directive that North Korean music had to be modernised. The Wangjaesan band concentrated more on traditional music, while the Bochonbo band did on modern trends and life songs. Their performances provide evidence of an un-detachable relationship with Jung-Il Kim’s politics and his perspective on music, “artistry without ideology is worthless”. The Moranbong band and the Chongbong band were formed by Jung Eun Kim himself and they can be regarded as symbolic musical groups of his regime. Demonstrating the earlier Juche ideas of the previous regimes by performing older songs from that era, the bands also illustrate new ideologies of the current regime. It would seem that none of their music was created purely for the artistic and cultural demand of the public. The political use of the bands has been totally intentional since their formation. / Thesis (DMus)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Music / DMus / Unrestricted

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